As you scroll through an ever-expanding feed of “knowledge,” you seem drawn toward shallower and shallower article titles. The "Top 5 Best Hikes To Do With Bae This Summer” articles are what I am referring to. This title is an ambiguous example created to demonstrate the seemingly insatiable lust us millennials harbor for infotainment. We were raised on the sh*t. Listicles, the name bestowed to such pieces, are shallow in their content. They distract readers from pertinent, well-written works of writing through catchy titles and high-quality photos. That being said, here are four reasons why listicles suck.
1. Listicles are not bulletins.
Think back to middle school history. Remember how information was spread in colonial America? Remember learning about the bigleaf maple in the middle of every town square? Remember its gnarled bark pierced by hundreds of nails holding the remnants of old bulletins? These bulletins spread important news throughout the community. I can imagine a list of local happenings, tragedies and harvests formatted much like a modern-day listicle, except these bulletins' brevity was necessary. Page space was valuable. Information was given as concisely as possible for a reason. Modern-day listicles, on the other hand, are brief for a different reason: accessibility.
2. Accessibility.
Low word counts and often mindless subjects make listicles an easy read for most young adults. Most listicles are written by young adults and most listicles are written about young adult stuff, like dating, running, school and sleep. As young adults, we fall prey to catchy titles that promise to teach us something we were on the verge of discovering ourselves. Listicles are not analogous with chemical reactions. You cannot lower the amount of time and energy it takes to create/understand deep, meaningful life lessons. Listicles that advertise with titles like “15 Fun Things To Do On A First Date” or “10 Things I Learned About Myself Going To College Out Of State” might offer insight to budding youth, but in the end, provide nothing more than a shallow perspective on monstrous life lessons.
3. Listicles are lazy.
Instead of writing an entire article on each point of a listicle or developing a few well-thought-out paragraphs that prove a point, authors of listicles choose to skim the surface of each mentioned point. Not only does this cut down on reading time, but it also cuts down on writing time. A seasoned writer might call a listicle the “planning stage” of their writing process -- a stage in which ideas are yakked onto the page quickly and concisely. Most writers after this stage don’t think, “Well, I got a lot of good ideas. They don’t really go together well, but if I just add a sub-title to each thought, people will understand what I am talking about. Should be good. I’ll send it to the editors.” No. They yearn to bring fragmented thoughts into a cohesive work that inspires thought.
4. The word "listicle" is nonsensical.
“Listicle” a combination of list and article. Everyone can read a list. Does not matter how long it is. A list is a column of words compiled to be a memory aid. A list is simple, effective and to the point. Either you check everything off your list or you have unfinished business to attend to the next day. An article is a piece of writing that appears in magazines newspapers or other publications. Articles can take any form, be on any subject, and be as long as 10,000 words. The beauty of an article lies in the opportunity they afford. A listicle is a half-assed attempt at writing an article and an unsatisfying list because there is nothing to cross off.
Writing is now spread by the masses. The people will like what they like. As a budding writer, it is disheartening when you work hard to write a 1,200-word piece for it to only be shared or liked a handful of times. Then the next week, you write a 500-word piece that you rushed, and it goes viral. This should not bother me, because the more you like half-a**ed, half-baked, half-page articles, the easier my job becomes.
But it does bother me.
